Storyteller competition helps students share creative writing

The English Department is hosting a short story competition July 8 at 7 p.m. in room 240 in the Joseph Fielding Smith building according to a poster in the Smith.

Jenny Carlson, a junior studying English, said that the purpose of The Last Storyteller short story competition is to help both students participating and students watching.

“By going to the competition, people can hear original works from talented young writers on campus, and there are refreshments,” Carlson said.

Carlson said students can be both entertained and uplifted through participating in this competition.

She said she hopes people will learn from listening to other peoples’ work.

“When people hear my work, and I hope that the images I use will plunge them into the story and help them have a fun, imaginative experience,” Carlson said. “I also hope they’ll be able to see some of the beautiful idiosyncrasies of humans.”

She said she wanted to compete because it would test her performance and gauge writing progress.

“If I can read it all without butterflies or labored breathing, I’ve succeeded,” Carlson said.

Jenny McBride, the president of the English Academic Society and a senior studying English, said a lot of people want to become writers and want to showcase their work to get the experience.

She said winning the competition is a good goal to have and that it can be a highlight to a resume or grad school application.

McBride said it encourages students to keep writing and to do the very best they can.

She said students can mention when they want to get published that they have won an award or at least participated in a competition.

She said students can have a chance to hear what their fellow students are working on and a chance to meet other English majors.

Carlson said the competition helps in other ways as well.

“I’m getting a degree in creative writing, not just because I like to write creatively, but because I believe writing is an act of creation,” Carlson said. “We can form whole worlds out of words, and in the process, we learn a lot about people, about God and about ourselves.”